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WaterWays - Nature-Based Solutions

$1.99
$1.99

How do you equip your neighborhood against environmental threats? In Nature-Based Solutions, students meet their neighbors and hear about problems in their neighborhood like heat, air pollution, and flooding. They learn about seven nature-based solutions to these problems, including the importance of trees. They then apply these solutions in their own design to address the issues in the community!

WaterWays was developed in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society, Hudson River Park and Mount Sinai's Transdisciplinary Center for Early Environmental Exposure, with funding support from the National Institutes of Health. 

Nature-Based Solutions contains:

  • A personalized digital science journal and an augmented reality experience where students examine different variables effect on a tree (accessible by phone or browser using webVR) 
  •  40 minutes of interactive activities where students are scientists engaged with water science and water stewardship

Teacher Testimonials:

  • “Students could manipulate variables and see the instant change, which helped them understand. The simulations were really helpful.”
  • “The students really enjoyed the real life scenarios. They were able to engage with it in such a level that it meant something to them, and I think that’s when they grew the most from it.”
  • “I loved seeing my students get to manipulate things, work through their hypothesis, see the visual, test it out themselves, and go from there.”

Next Generation Science Standards:

Science & Engineering Practices

Disciplinary Core Idea

 Crosscutting Concepts
  • Developing and Using Models
  • Analyzing and Interpreting Data
  • Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
  • Engaging in Argument from Evidence
  • Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
  • LS2.A Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
  • LS2.B Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems
  • LS2.C Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
  • LS4.D Biodiversity and Humans
  • ETS1.A Defining Engineering Problems
  • ETS1.C Optimizing the Design Solution
  • ESS2.A Earth Materials and Systems
  • ESS3.C Human Impacts on Earth Systems
  • Systems and System Models
  • Cause and Effect
  • Patterns
  • Energy and Matter
  • Scale Proportion and Quantity

Connections to Excellence in Environmental Education - Guidelines for Learning (K-12)

  • Strand 1 (Analysis and Interpretation Skills): A, C, E, F, G
  • Strand 2 (Environmental Processes and Systems): 2.1 A, B. 2.2 A, C, D. 2.3 A. 2.4 A,E
  • Strand 3 (Skills for Understanding and Addressing Environmental Issues): 3.1 A, B, C
  • Strand 4 (Personal and Civic Responsibility): B, C